They built a fake Chicago, to scale, in Vancouver. They later auctioned off the remaining sets to pay for John Warden's ransom.

 

Oh... So they used an empty area to build "Chicago"?

 

Yep. It actually took place in a corn field.

Oh, and just my two cents: Optimus did not let Chicago get burned up. It was clear he only planned to fake his death and return as soon as possible, hence being so mad about how quickly Chicago was trashed.

 

That's only part true. Some scenes were filmed in Chicago in the half of the city that was slated to be torn down anyways. But the filming had issues so they had to do all the retakes in Vancouver because they leveled the half of Chicago and by the time they needed the retakes the golf course was already being built there

 

That's fine, we all mess up details every now and then. Again I don't have any issues with Prime killing the Fallen, just how unnecessary the face rip was since the Fallen was going down hard by that point in the fight anyway. To me it would be like Superman ripping off Zod's lower jaw before breaking his neck in MoS.

To be clear, I don't have an issue with Prime faking his exile - that was the best course of action. My issue is with how he handled the aftermath. Prime knew Sentinel and the cons have a space bridge and that any delay in response would be utterly catastrophic for the humans. Once it is clear that Chicago is the Con's target, Prime decides to drive there.

The Autobot commander, who is hauling an armory which doubles as a jet pack, decides to drive to a city being burned to the ground.

The element of surprise factor doesn't even apply here either seeing as how the Con's fast spy network couldn't pick up an Autobot convoy driving through several states so I doubt an aerial approach to land the bots outside the city would've tipped anyone off.

The humans were at fault too but I'm not convinced that Prime did all that he could have to limit the number of casualties.

 

What else COULD he have done?

 

Put that jet pack to good use after climbing out of the sea for starters. Obviously there was no scenario where Prime could have prevented a massive Decepticon attack but arriving only a few minutes behind Sam and co (a convoy that was assembled at the last minute as a desperate response) is too damn slow.

 

I'm always amazed when people don't think that big budget movies can and should be far superior to cartoons.

 

Then it would have been Optimus against the whole Con army by himself. Sure, he could have flown from Cape Canaveral, Florida all the way up to Chicago, Illinois. The others still would have had to drive. Optimus is the leader and protector of Cybertronians. His first priority is their safety and well being, not the arrogant humans who pretty much secured their own fates. The humans made their own choice in the face of all of Optimus' warnings. They ordered the Bots to leave,and being guests on the planet, Optimus and the Bots unhappily acquiesced. Prime and the Wreckers came up with the only viable plan they could. They had no control over when the Cons were going to destroy the Xanthium, so there was no way for them to point that rocket booster towards Lake Michigan (which would have been VERY obvious, since launches head eastwards, in the opposite direction of Lake Michigan)
Optimus and the Bots did what they had to do and got to Chicago as quickly as they possibly could. Being that they booked it all the way from freaking Florida, I'd say they made REALLY REALLY good time, given the circumstances. 

 

What "aerial approach to land the bots outside the city" was actually availably to them? Please tell me you're not seriously suggesting that Optimus fly each of them from Florida to Illinois individually, lol.

So the Autobots drover there. They're Autobots, ffs. It's what most if not all of them HAVE to do to get anywhere faster than running. Optimus didn't "decide" to drive there, it was just the only option available.

Oh, and flying there alone would've not only meant that that Optimus was facing 200+ Decepticons alone but he'd also be doing it without the REST of his armory. I know he's pretty overpowered in the movies sometimes but that's a bit much even for him. Likewise, the element of surprise obviously WAS a factor. They were already inside the city and had freed Carly before Sentinel even knew they were still alive while the Decepticons were busy fucking around and holding a defensive perimeter OUTSIDE of the city.

And AGAIN with the silliness about him taking the face of The Fallen, lol. It was a target of opportunity and put The Fallen into full retreat. Even if Optimus WAS dominating him by then, making him stop fighting and start running was still a damned sight better than continuing a fistfight with the guy who just tried to kill an entire solar system.

Fuck that guy.

Rip his face off and anything else you can get your hands on.

And I'm always NOT amazed when certain people COMPLETELY miss the point they're quoting, lol.

That's SO obviously NOT what I was saying there, as I've already outlined.

Ugh.

 

Prime flies and the rest of the bots get creative and procure a ride. Have half of them scan helicopters and piggy back, have them figure out which parts of a C-130 they are going to transform into, hell have Wheelie and Brains high jack a Fed Ex A310 then crash it into Lake Michigan as Tom Hanks is shown jumping out with a parachute angrily shaking his fist for all I care.

I mean we see Bumblebee, Wheelie, and Brains straight up highjack Decepticon aircraft shortly after their arrival in Chicago yet the bots can't collectively figure out a faster way to cross several states than a convoy? It is just as dumb forgetting about a grappling hook while scaling a falling building.

The Fallen deserved everything that happened to him but Prime (even Bay's movie Prime) is suppose to be above a savage face lift. We'll just have to agree to disagree on this point because it is obvious neither of us will budge.

 

The idea that a battlefield commander would be above destroying a genocidal maniac by any means available to him is just silly, lol.

I like the Tom Hanks idea, at least.